Shoplifting: officers arrest 1,358 suspects in the past year

Our Business Crime Team works with retailers and business partners to target shoplifters and bring them to justice.

In the past 12 months, officers have made 1,358 arrests for shop theft offences* in Essex, secured 2,443 charges and solved 593 more offences than in the previous year.

Sergeant Christian Denning says:

“Shoplifting is not a victimless crime. It affects a store’s bottom line and may cause them to increase prices for customers, while offenders can also be violent and abusive to staff and customers.
“Through our Open For Business, Closed For Crime campaign we encourage retailers to report shop theft, assaults on staff and anti-social behaviour to us and provide us with CCTV footage and witness statements.
“This evidence is vital to help us to build strong cases. Where it is provided, offenders often have no choice but to admit their crimes in court.
“And the information provided also helps us to identify emerging crime trends and to adapt and target our crime prevention tactics. 
“No-one should be afraid to go to work and we want to make our high streets, corner shops and retail parks safer places for everyone to work in and visit.”

Where we have the evidence, offenders can quickly be put before the courts, often the day after their arrest. One of the store chains we work closely with is the East of England Co-op.

Head of Profit Improvement and Internal Security Lee Hammond says supplying impact statements and CCTV footage often results in successful prosecutions.

Lee, a member of the Essex Business Crime Strategic Board, adds: 

“Shoplifting is a crime that carries consequences, and we will continue to do all we can with the Essex Police Business Crime Team to protect our colleagues and customers and the wider retail community.” 

Denise Rossiter, chief executive of Essex Chambers of Commerce, agrees it is critical for retailers to work with police to compile strong evidence and ensure offenders face justice.

“Essex Chambers of Commerce is pleased to have been able to work with Essex Police and several large retailers over a number of years to help raise awareness and develop strategies to combat a problem which is not victimless - as it is sometimes portrayed – but can have serious effects on shop staff and shoppers.”

Partnership working is coupled with other campaigns run by our Business Crime Team, such as Operation Pedlar where convenience stores and off-licences pledge not to buy stolen goods for re-sale in their stores.

This reduces the opportunities for offenders to profit from their crimes.

And all this activity runs alongside the work of our local and community policing teams who make the majority of shoplifting arrests. Local knowledge means that many persistent offenders are arrested when they are spotted by an officer in the street.

Officers also apply for criminal behaviour orders to be imposed by courts on prolific offenders, which can ban them from certain shops or even entire store chains across the county.

And anyone arrested for an acquisitive crime, such as shop theft, in Essex is tested for cocaine, crack cocaine and heroin on arrival in custody.

If they test positive, they are required to attend an assessment with one of three drug treatment services we work with in Essex.

Christian says:

“Where we have the evidence, we will seek to prosecute, whatever the value of the theft. Small thefts do add up into sums which businesses cannot afford to lose.
“But we also want to divert people from offending and that’s where banning orders and treatment requirements come into play. It’s giving people a chance to change their behaviour and alter the course of their lives.”

* Arrests for shop theft. This relates to the number of arrests our officers have made. A person may have been arrested more than once for theft from a shop during the time period. And they may have been arrested for more than one offence.